BBC Two
BBC Two '''is British public television network owned by British Broadcasting Corporation. The channel broadcasts news, entertainment, movies, reality-shows, sports, series, documentaries, culture and game-shows. History British television at the time of '''BBC 2's launch consisted of two channels: BBC Television Service and ITV made up of smaller regional companies. Both channels had existed in a state of competition since ITV's launch in 1955, and both had aimed for a populist approach in response. The 1962 Pilkington Report on the future of broadcasting noticed this, and that ITV lacked any serious programming. It therefore decided that Britain's third television station should be awarded to BBC. Prior to its launch, the new BBC 2 was promoted on BBC Television Service: the soon to be renamed BBC 1. The animated adverts featured the campaign mascots Hullabaloo, a mother kangaroo, and Custard, her joey. Prior to, and several years after, the channel's formal launch, the channel broadcast "Trade Test Transmissions", short films made externally by companies such as Shell and BP, which served to enable engineers to test reception, but became cultviewing. The channel was scheduled to begin at 19:20 on 20 April 1964, showing an evening of light entertainment, starting with the comedy show The Alberts, a performance from Soviet comedian Arkady Raikin, and a production of Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate, culminating with a fireworks display. However, at around 18:45 a huge power failure, originating from a fire at Battersea Power Station, caused Television Centre, and indeed much of west London, to lose all power. BBC 1 was able to continue broadcasting via its facilities at Alexandra Palace, but all attempts to show the scheduled programmes on the new channel failed. Associated-Rediffusion, the London weekday ITV franchise-holder, offered to transmit on BBC's behalf, but their gesture was rejected. At 22:00 programming was officially postponed until the following morning. As BBC's news centre at Alexandra Palace was unaffected, they did in fact broadcast brief bulletins on BBC 2 that evening, beginning with an announcement by the newsreader Gerald Priestland at around 19:25. There was believed to be no recording made of this bulletin, but a videotape was discovered in early 2003. By 11:00 on 21 April, power had been restored to the studios and programming began, thus making Play School the first programme to be shown officially on the channel. The launch schedule, postponed from the night before, was then successfully shown that evening, albeit with minor changes. In reference to the power cut, the transmission opened with a shot of a lit candle which was then sarcastically blown out by presenter Denis Tuohy. To establish the new channel's identity and draw viewers to it, BBC decided that a widely promoted, lavish series would be essential in its earliest days. The production chosen was The Forsyte Saga (1967), a no-expense-spared adaptation of the novels by John Galsworthy, featuring well-established actors Kenneth More and Eric Porter. Critically for the future of the fledgling channel, BBC's gamble was hugely successful, with an average of six million viewers tuning in per episode: a feat made more prominent by the fact that only 9 million were able to receive the channel at the time. Unlike BBC 1 and ITV, BBC 2 was broadcast only on the 625 line UHF system, so was not available to viewers still using sets on the 405-line VHF system. This created a market for dual standard receivers which could switch between the two systems. Set manufacturers ramped up production of UHF sets in anticipation of a large market demand for the new BBC 2, but the market did not materialise. The early technical problems, which included being unable to transmit US-recorded videotapes due to a lack of system conversion from the US NTSC system, were resolved by a committee headed by James Redmond. On 1 July 1967, during the Wimbledon Championships, BBC 2 became the first channel in Europe to begin regular broadcasts in colour, using the PAL system. The thirteen part series Civilisation (1969) was created as a celebration of two millennia of western art and culture to showpiece the new colour technology. BBC 1 and ITV later joined BBC 2 on 625-line UHF band, but continued to simulcast on 405-line VHF until 1985. BBC 1 and ITV simultaneously introduced PAL colour on UHF on 15 November 1969, although they both had broadcast some programmes in colour "unofficially" since September 1969. In 1979, the station adopted the first computer-generated channel identification (ident) in Britain, with its use of the double striped, orange '2' logo. The ident, created in house by BBC engineers, lasted until March 1986 and heralded the start of computer-generated logos. As the switch to digital-only terrestrial transmission progressed, BBC Two was (in each region in turn) the first analogue TV channel to be replaced with BBC multiplex, at first four, then two weeks ahead of the other four channels. This was required for those relay transmitters that had no current Freeview service giving viewers time to purchase the equipment, unless they had already selected a satellite or cable service. The last region for BBC Two to end on analogue terrestrial television was Northern Ireland on 10 October 2012. It was announced on 19 February 2013 that a HD simulcast of BBC Two would commence on 26 March 2013 at 06:00. This is the single UK service without national variations. At the 2012 Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, BBC Two was named "Terrestrial Channel of the Year". Programmings News * Question Time * Newsnight * BBC World News * Daily Politics * Victoria Derbyshire Reality-shows * Match of the Day * Gardeners' World * Mastermind'' ' * 'Top Gear ' * '''See Hear * Later with Jools Holland * University Challenge * Robot Wars * Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two * Dragons' Den * Springwatch * The Apprentice: You're Fired! * The Great Interior Design Challenge * The Great Pottery Throw Down Sports * UEFA European Football Championship * The Premier League Show * Summer Olympic Games * Winter Olympic Games * Ski Sunday * Wimbledon Championships * Today at Wimbledon * PDC Champions League of Darts * World Snooker Championship * The Open Championship * Rugby League Challenge Cup * Rugby League World Cup * Super Bowl * Rugby Special * ATP World Tour Finals * FIFA Women's World Cup Series * Inside No. 9 * Two Doors Down * Cradle to Grave * Upstart Crow * Mum * White Gold * Vic and Bob's Big Night Out * Peaky Blinders Documentaries * This World * Horizon'' ' * 'Natural World ' * '''Arena * Great British Railway Journeys * Nature's Weirdest Events * Civilisations Game-shows * Eggheads * The Debatable * Letterbox * Have I Got News for You * QI * Mock the Week * Insert Name Here Logos BBC 2 (1964-1967).svg|First logo (1964-1967) BBC 2 (1967-1974).png|Second logo (1967-1974) BBC 2 (1974-1979).svg|Third logo (1974-1979) BBC 2 (1979-1986).svg|Fourth logo (1979-1986) BBC Two (1986-1991).png|Fifth logo (1986-1991) BBC 2 (1991-1997).svg|Sixth logo (1991-1997) BBC Two (1997-2002).svg|Seventh logo (1997-2001) BBC Two (2002-2007).png|Eighth logo (2001-2007) BBC Two (2007-.n.v.).png|Current logo (2007-present) BBC Two HD (2013-.n.v.).png|HD logo (2013-present) BBC Two (2018-.n.v.).png|Current logo without background External links * Official website Category:Television channels in the United Kingdom Category:British Broadcasting Corporation Category:Launched in 1964 Category:United Kingdom Category:Television channels in Ireland Category:Ireland Category:Secondary television channels